Heretics of Dune

Ew. just ew. This whole book was about grooming. How many times does Herbert have to talk about pulsating vaginas? How does he make sex sound gross? Duncan Idaho was 15! That was a grown ass woman trying to seduce him. Just no. I hated this one the most out of them so far.

Maybe a 3.5 for me! I liked the plot and was interested but I haven’t felt connected to the characters in these books since the original two. Also no disrespect but in the introduction of this book Brian Herbert was like “my dad loved women and it’s so obvious in the strong female characters he writes” but then are only three types of women in this book and the three types are:

uses sex for good(?)
uses sex for evil !!!
13 year old girl

Żałuję, że słuchałem jej w audio... Mam wrażenie, że przez to sporo mi umknęło. Jednakże nadal ją doceniam. Jednym z gorszych rozwiązań jest cały wątek tworzenia z "ludzi" maszyn seksu. Nie wiem jak to inaczej nazwać. Nie podoba mi się ten zabieg, jednakże rozumiem jego podstawy i fakt, że seksualność jest w stanie zabić umysł. Z takim zamiarem jest właśnie ona używana w tym tomie.

Rzekłbym, że średnio na jeża.

Ocena: 3,0.

Ottimo anche questo volume! Anche qui Herbert non si smentisce per la sua bravura nella narrazione e nei personaggi.
E ora il finale....

n  The Atreides are dead, long live the Atreides!n

Reread #2 and I'm having a lot more fun with the Dune series than the first time around. I remember being sort of disappointed by the turn of events and the fact that Herbert had abandoned the Atreides family, but has he?

In "Heretics of Dune", the spotlight is taken by the Bene Gesserit, the misterios sisterhood who controls from the shadows the empire's religious ad political life and aims to attain, by careful gene selection, a path of enlightenment for all humanity. After Leto II's death, they took over, to some extent, his Golden Path, but their work is hindered by the Bene Tleilax, who have their own goals to resurrect the "only true religion" and the Scattering elements, especially the so-called Honored Matres, a twisted reflection of the Bene Gesserit. On Dune, now called Rakis, a girl who can control the sand worms appears - a new element that, together with the ever-resurrected ghola Duncan Idaho, can help the Bene Gesserit with their ultimate goal.

"Heretics" is probably the most action-packed volume of the series, so far. Yes, even more so that "Dune". The 600 pages encompass a lot of politics - as one would expect from Frank Herbert's universe -, but also action scenes, fighting, escaping tight situations, sex (too much, to be honest). This instalment has a more "action movie" feeling that any of the other volumes, quite cinematic also - Herbert's descriptions of the surroundings and the character's actions are so detailed sometimes that one could easily place themselves in the middle of the events.

As this volume expands on the Dune universe and delves more into the two opposing religios forces - the Bene Gesserit and Bene Tleilax, Herbert brings forward a handful of memorable characters from both sides. By far, my favorite is Miles Teg, a Bashar Mentat who is a descendant of the Atreides and as such discovers powers beyond what is considered normal. I've always been partial to the Atreides' morality and his resemblance to Leto only made Teg more endearing to me. Duncan Idaho's reappearance is exciting in itself, but even more so with the new "abilities" that the Tleilaxu have added to this new version.

This is a bit of a space opera thriller, and it is thrilling, without doubt. Also a bit too long for my taste, though - I found myself getting lost here and there and anxious for it to get to the point already (or maybe I'm just not all that into long books anymore). My main issue though (which did not take away from the fun of this novel, I know, weird) is the way Herbert treated women; he was a bit of a sexist and it got too much at some point with all the sexual plot).

To me, its main merit is bringing the two Bene organizations into the spotlight, with their politics, social constructions and religios approaches. Some things (especially regarding the Tleilaxu) are cleared regarding their organization and motivations, and the Bene Gesserit's ultimate goal is mind-blowing. Give me lore and I'm a happy girl, which is why this volume was so satisfying.

Finally! I haver been dreading reading this book for ever so long, and now the alarm bells seem to have been superfluous. Lulled into a false sense of doom and with jangling nerves fostered by the utter metaphysical crap that were the second, third and fourth books of the Dune series, and God Emperor of Dune was singularly mind-numbing, this gave my jangling nerves rest.

What's different? Well, there's still a lot of obscure talk, but some of it finally is relieved with some actual ACTION! Things HAPPEN, people DO things, there's a lot of running around, shouting, shooting laser beams and wild martial arts contests at superhuman speed. There are also a sect of women who have achieved the highest amplification of orgasm and use sex as a weapon. There are still the Bene Gesserit sisters strutting around like they're the cat's whiskers. And we actually get to get OFF Dune the Planet for a change. Good fun!

A major event in the Dune universe. A plot brilliantly set and written by Frank Herbert.

Oh my, it seems as if Frank Herbert saved a plot almost as complex as the one of the first four books for the last two!
 
I'm very much looking forward to Villeneuve's interpretation of Dune that will be shown in theaters this year so I decided to not only read the original book but also the rest of the series.
 
1500 years have passed since Leto II, the God Emperor, has died. Arrakis is now called Rakis and has become a desert planet again. As planned by Leto, his death spawned the resurgence of sandworms (able to thrive when the desert took over again). While his death resulted in the hope that spice will be flowing once again, it has also triggered a kind of exodus, called the Scattering, when the Empire crumbled.
Dominant powers in what is left of the Empire are the Bene Gesserit, the Ixians (inventors pushing the boundaries of what is technologically allowed ever since the Butlerian Jihad, thus developing (amongst other things) the no-ships which are invisible to detection), and Bene Tleilax (an isolationist group of genetic manipulators that have developed the axlotl tank in which the gholas are being bred and in which they can now produce spice even; they have also developed a new form of face dancers). Manipulators one and all and all of them strangely … weak now.
The ones who left the Empire are called the Lost Ones. Most powerful amongst them are the Honoured Matres - an off-shoot of the Bene Gesserit that, while having peculiar powers, also seem to have devolved from the Sisterhood: they have lost the ability to absolutely control their bodies and emotions. Nevertheless, they should not be underestimated.
 
Simultaneously, it has come to the Bene Gesserit's attention that there is a young woman on Rakis that can control the sandworms (Sheeana , a descendant of Paul, as is only to be expected, causes mayhem amongst the fish speakers that have turned into priests on Rakis as people start worshipping her like they used to worship Muad'Dib).
Perhaps it is therefore no coincidence that the Lost Ones are returning now of all times, bent on conquest.
The Bene Gesserit have foreseen this conflict and prepared accordingly despite the Sisterhood being divided internally. Thus, another Duncan Idaho ghola has been bred and is being trained while they are also keeping tabs on Sheeana. Another asset in their struggle for supremacy is a former military commander, (Bashar) Miles Teg (another descendant of House Atreidis). Darwi Odrade, one of his daughters (biological, unbeknown to him), is a Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit and sent to Rakis to take over the keep there.
 
So yes, all forces are converging on Dune. And then, the unthinkable happens ...
 
I could go into more detail about the battles, the assassinations (both attempted and successful), deceptions, the captures and escapes, the fight between religious fanatism and cold logic, the plots and counter-plots. Equally, I could tell you of the weird but highly interesting powers the different factions display or accidentally trigger. But I shan't. Discovering the richness of the plot yourself is half the fun of reading these books after all.

Seriously, I had my doubts about how I'd like these last two books after how volume 4 ended (what could possibly come after that, especially since there was nobody left for me to connect with).
I should have trusted the author more.
Just seeing the Atreidis legacy, all the consequences even from small actions from about 5000 years earlier - it all brought home just how big the threat to humanity was and why such drastic sacrifices were necessary to ensure the Golden Path would be followed ... or did something happen that thwarted Leto's plans?
 
As predicted, I didn't connect too much with most characters here. However, I did love Duncan very much again and I pitied him for his "childhood".
I also loved everything about Teg. He was brilliant and very much like the original Leto. Which OF COURSE meant that he had to die. *sighs*
What I really didn't see coming or didn't want to consider possible despite all the signs was Arrakis' destruction. I mean, Chapterhouse had been talked about in the previous book already (sneaky) and became more and more important here. Nevertheless, we're talking about Dune! *cries*

No idea what will happen now. Naturally, there is only victory or defeat (and there is no telling which would be part of the Golden Path) but what either will look like is a mystery - showing the author's mastery!